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Treating my kids with some homemade ice cream

Apr24
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin

 

Guest post written by Miranda Gleason

It seems like I blinked and my kids were already in college. They say that kids grow up fast but I didn’t expect for them to grow up quite this fast! It was kind of surprising to think about that 18 years had already gone by. Well, our kids will be coming home soon because they’re getting ready to take their college exams. My husband and I couldn’t be happier about it! It will be so nice to have them home for a few months and I really want to welcome them home for it. So I decided to buy an ice cream maker to make some ice cream for them when they arrive home after exams.

But I’d never made ice cream at home before, so I had to look up some recipes on how to make the ice cream. When I was looking up some ice cream recipes, I saw some info on debt consolidation and once I looked through it some I decided that it would be helpful for our finances, especially with our kids in college.

I found several different recipes for ice cream that I bookmarked. I don’t have to pick one recipe yet, but I can’t wait to fix it for them!

Posted in New Reports, World News

U.S. Manufacturers Seen Bringing Production Facilities Back to America

Apr23
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin
After decades of sending jobs and production facilities to China and other nations with cheap, abundant labor, many top U.S. companies are now looking homeward for cheap labor and lower production costs. With record unemployment and a stagnant economy, the cost of labor in the U.S. has become much more competitive with those in emerging economies around the world. And considering that the vast majority of products produced overseas by U.S. companies are then brought home to be sold to American consumers, it makes sense to manufacture things domestically whenever possible.

A recent poll by the Boston Consulting Group found that 37% of large American manufacturers were considering bringing some of their production facilities back to the U.S. For the largest companies, those with $ 10 billion or more in revenue, that percentage rose as high as 48%. If, in fact, a large percentage of companies start bringing their production facilities back to the U.S., the change will take years, if not decades to create a meaningful impact.

At present, there is probably still much more growth in production facilities in China and elsewhere, as opposed to the U.S. But as the U.S. continues to try to inflate its way out of its crushing debt load, there is a chance that the U.S. dollar will fall in value enough to make U.S. labor too attractive to pass up. Of course, reaching that point will probably require some global conflicts and a restructuring of the American socio-economic landscape that may greatly decrease consumer demand for non-essential goods. Such developments would then render any re-shoring movement entirely moot, but that’s a discussion for another time.


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U.S. Manufacturers Seen Bringing Production Facilities Back to America

Apr22
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin
After decades of sending jobs and production facilities to China and other nations with cheap, abundant labor, many top U.S. companies are now looking homeward for cheap labor and lower production costs. With record unemployment and a stagnant economy, the cost of labor in the U.S. has become much more competitive with those in emerging economies around the world. And considering that the vast majority of products produced overseas by U.S. companies are then brought home to be sold to American consumers, it makes sense to manufacture things domestically whenever possible.

A recent poll by the Boston Consulting Group found that 37% of large American manufacturers were considering bringing some of their production facilities back to the U.S. For the largest companies, those with $ 10 billion or more in revenue, that percentage rose as high as 48%. If, in fact, a large percentage of companies start bringing their production facilities back to the U.S., the change will take years, if not decades to create a meaningful impact.

At present, there is probably still much more growth in production facilities in China and elsewhere, as opposed to the U.S. But as the U.S. continues to try to inflate its way out of its crushing debt load, there is a chance that the U.S. dollar will fall in value enough to make U.S. labor too attractive to pass up. Of course, reaching that point will probably require some global conflicts and a restructuring of the American socio-economic landscape that may greatly decrease consumer demand for non-essential goods. Such developments would then render any re-shoring movement entirely moot, but that’s a discussion for another time.


Buzzle: National & World News

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China Giving More Freedom to Currency

Apr18
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin
The United States and other trading partners of China have for years bemoaned the fact that the Chinese government keeps its currency – the yuan – pegged to the U.S. dollar. The move is intended, presumably, to make certain that Chinese imports remain inexpensive around the world and to prop up the Chinese economy. Chinese officials deny such accusations, but it is fairly clear to objective observers that this is exactly the reasoning behind the peg.

Recently, however, there has been some movement from the Chinese on the subject of currency pegs. Specifically, the People’s Bank of China has agreed to allow the yuan to rise or fall up to 1% from a mid-point each day. That doubles the size of the movements that can occur in the currency, which is currently allowed to move no more than 0.5%. Analysts claim that the move is coming from China now because the country’s leaders believe the yuan has reached a point of equilibrium and that its strong economy can withstand more movement in the currency.

Worth noting, however, is that this move is quite likely part of a larger Chinese plan to make the country a global banking center by the year 2020. Part of that process would undoubtedly result in the yuan becoming an international reserve currency or co-reserve-currency, a distinction currently held only by the U.S. dollar. For those wondering what the loss of reserve currency status would do to the U.S., the issue is simple. Without reserve currency status, the U.S. would be forced to buy oil and other goods, services and commodities in local currencies or a reserve currency other than the U.S. dollar. The result would be that dollar devaluation by the Federal Reserve would result in massive cost spikes for such goods and services.

To this point, the world has played along with this rigged game, but with China eyeing banking supremacy and many countries beginning to do business for oil and other commodities in local currencies instead of the dollar, it appears the time is quickly approaching that Americans better get used to some truly high prices for things like electronics, clothing and, yes, gasoline (if you thought $ 4/gallon was high, well…you’ve seen nothing yet).


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Obama Trip to Latin American Goes Poorly

Apr16
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin
President Obama took his easy smile and what some view as intense charm to Latin America over the weekend, but the effects were not quite the same as what the president is accustomed to, from his adoring public and pandering friends in the media. Ignoring the promises made by the president, and marking a drastic change from the celebrity adoration he seemed to achieve back at the 2009 Summit of the Americas, the president was left isolated at the recent summit, where China is seeking to gain ever-greater influence.

And, since China has the money and economic power in the world now, it is a country that seems to be making progress on that front. The two-day meeting that included roughly 30 heads of state, and which took place in Cartagena, Colombia, saw Obama taking heat over America’s continuing sanctions against Cuba. The summit ultimately came to an end on Sunday without anything really being accomplished.

Noted Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, “There was no declaration because there was no consensus.” Santos rejected claims that no progress was made, however, and claimed that the exchange of ideas and differing viewpoints was an indication that democracy is alive and well in the Western hemisphere. Santos also voiced an opinion that is in stark contrast to what the president was selling, noting, “The isolation, the embargo, the indifference, looking the other way, have been ineffective. I hope Cuba is at the next summit in three years.” Unless there is a major change of heart in the U.S., that obviously won’t happen.


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President Obama Defends Ann Romney

Apr15
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin
In an attempt to paint Ann Romney as elite and privileged, Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen did the Romney campaign a huge favor and actually humanized the Romney family. Hilary Rosen described Ann Romney as someone who “hasn’t worked a day in her life”, in a misguided attempt to reinforce the idea that the Romney’s are from the elite strata of society. Of course, the public is already well aware of the Romney’s socio-economic status, so such rhetoric is almost certainly overkill at this point.

But the mistake Rosen made was attacking Ann Romney, who was a stay-at-home mother to five children and now has sixteen grandchildren. Romney’s retort to Rosen’s comment was simple and is going to carry quite a bit of impact with women voters. She said, “My career choice was to be a mother. We have to respect women in all the choices they make.” Romney supporters and strategists were thrilled with the opportunity that Rosen’s gaffe gave their campaign and they’ll do what they can to ride the small boost of momentum that it may have provided.

On the other side, President Obama deftly addressed the issue and offered his support for Ann Romney. In separate interviews, Obama distanced himself from that position and then went so far as to state clearly that “there is no tougher job than being a Mom.”

Ultimately, it’s unlikely that Americans are going to view Ann and Mitt Romney’s traditional family structure as favorably as they view the Obamas. The Obamas are younger, they don’t carry the same impression of ultra-elite wealth, and they seemingly came out of nowhere to win the White House. Despite the struggles of the last four years, many still view the Obamas as a feel-good story. No one’s going to make the mistake of criticizing Ann Romney’s career choice in the future, but it’s probably not going to matter either way.


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Taxpayers Shell Out $40 Million to Mow Federal Lawns

Apr13
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin
Welcome to the central planning state, Americans. Your tax dollars now not only go to bail out huge banks, federal housing agencies and auto manufacturers, but also to mow the lawn at houses that, due to the failure and subsequent nationalization of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, are now the property of the U.S. government. Of course, the money you’re paying this year from your hard-earned wages won’t just go to mow lawns, but also to rehab them so that they’re ready to be sold again on the market.

In total, the housing bailout has cost U.S. taxpayers $ 124 million, but that doesn’t include the ongoing costs of paying for these upgrades. Last year, Fannie Mae alone made repairs to 90,000 homes on its books. Notes Jay Ryan, Fannie Mae’s vice president of real estate owned homes, “That is a lot of homes, and it is a lot of materials that need to be purchased.” Unfortunately, rather than the public company Fannie Mae buying those materials itself, it is the responsibility of you, the taxpayer to do that, regardless of the fact that you never volunteered to do so by purchasing stock in that particular firm.

Obviously people understand that this shouldn’t be going on. Notes Guy Cecala, CEO and publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance Publications, “We’ve got to get the government out of the housing market, the mortgage market. That’s very difficult to do when the housing market is on its knees.” Of course, with government spending entirely out of control and the bailed-out banks unwilling to make mortgage loans to most people, there really is very little hope that the real estate market will come back all that soon.


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Facebook Likes Instagram for $1 Billion

Apr11
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin
In a somewhat surprising pre-IPO move, Facebook jumped at the opportunity to acquire Instagram in a deal that is believed to be in the vicinity of $ 1 billion in stock and cash. Of course, once Facebook goes public in a few weeks, there will be more than enough cash and stock value on hand to make this deal seemingly insignificant to the social network’s bottom line.

Some have questioned the long-term value of the move for Facebook, given that the vast majority of Instagram users are already Facebook users. It’s likely that a less costly partnership arrangement would have given Facebook access to whatever information they were looking for from Instagram users. But given the heightened scrutiny that Facebook is going to face once it goes public, a move such as this may have been timed to avoid having to answer difficult questions about exactly how the company plans to monetize and profit from Instagram.

In addition to the size of the deal, some privacy advocates are concerned that Instagram’s acquisition by Facebook will expose all of Instagram’s users’ photos to the questionable privacy practices of Facebook. And while most of Instagram’s photos are already in the public domain, Facebook will now have the ability to connect Instagram photos with their corresponding user accounts in Facebook. Even though this will not happen by default and it’s unlikely that Facebook will publicly acknowledge the connection, the company is going to use the Instagram data along with its own to create even more comprehensive profiles of users. Ultimately, this data will be mined by Facebook and its customers to attempt to serve more successful advertising to users/consumers.


Buzzle: National & World News

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U.S., Iran Negotiations to Open on Saturday

Apr09
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin
Since the last time Iran tried to negotiate directly with U.S. officials, in 2010, the only thing that has changed is that tensions have increased and oil prices have risen to all-time highs. Of course, a European debt crisis and global economic uncertainty have also emerged since then, so it’s safe to say that the landscape has changed. Add to that the fact that President Barack Obama is headed toward a November election showdown and we have a truly unprecedented backdrop for the upcoming round of talks between the U.S. and Iran.

In advance of the negotiations, which are set to begin in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, April 14, U.S. officials have publicly reiterated their position that the only acceptable outcome is for Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment activities. Iran claims that its only goals for enriching uranium are energy production and medical advances, but the west, led by Israel and the U.S., is convinced that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. The fact that both the U.S. and Israel already have a plethora of weapons is consistently lost in the rhetoric surrounding the situation.

The most intriguing element of the upcoming negotiations is the fact that gas prices at U.S. pumps are at or above all-time highs. If they climb much higher, President Obama’s re-election bid is going to suffer greatly. Yet, the President must also guard against taking too conciliatory a stance with Iran, as that will also provide an easy political target for the GOP. Ultimately, the best case for the President is going to be an agreement with Iran to continue negotiations and – hopefully – push off any definitive action until after the election in November.


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Jobs Act May Open Pandora’s Box

Apr08
2012 Leave a Comment Written by dadmin
Despite the fact that provisions of the Jobs Act make it easier for emerging companies, those with less than $ 1 billion in revenue, to go public, analysts are conflicted about how the new provisions may be used and abused. One area that has not changed is that CEOs and CFOs can still be sued by investors and federal regulators for fraud, as has been the case recently with Groupon.

The new regulations will probably garner quite a bit of rhetoric from both supporters and detractors, as there are elements of the Jobs Act that make for easy talking points from both sides. For the most part, little has changed from Sarbanes Oxley in terms of the regulations that are required for companies as they report their financial details prior to seeking public financing. But there is enough new language to provide opportunities for political gamesmanship.

Ultimately, whatever new regulations have been added or removed in the interest of creating jobs and stimulating the economy will be utilized and exploited to maximum effect by the Too Big to Fail banks who underwrite initial public offerings. If there is a financial loophole to be found, rest assured that the well-connected investment bankers will find it.

And whether fraud charges or lawsuits come down is almost irrelevant to the real money players in those types of transactions. It doesn’t really matter where the money goes or what the companies do, in the end the well-connected bankers will be just fine. Just ask Jon Corzine.


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